If you are reading my blog, that means you are an internet user. If you are an internet user, there is no way you are unaware that Game of Thrones (seemingly) killed off Jon Snow in the Season 5 finale. But the thing is, Jon Snow can't be dead. He just can't!
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| Jon Snow |
Ever
since I finished A Dance With Dragons, I’ve been mulling over ways in which Jon could have survived the traitorous attack by fellow Night’s Watch
members. Following last week’s Season finale, I’ve been revisiting those theories. So, here are the reasons which I
believe indicate that Jon Snow is not dead.
This post contains several theories and possible spoilers. If you are unfamiliar (and would prefer to
remain unfamiliar) with theories surrounding Jon’s true identity and fate, you
should not read this post.
First
things first: Jon’s final chapter in A Dance With Dragons ends when he
loses consciousness. This is not confirmation that Jon is dead. A previous Arya chapter ended with her losing
consciousness (and very clever wording that made it seem like The Hound had
killed her), but thankfully it was just that: she was unconscious. The same could be true of Jon.
Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger’s hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. ‘Ghost’, he whispered. Pain washed over him. Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold…
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| Jon Snow, seemingly dead in the Season 5 finale |
How,
you may ask, could Jon possibly have survived?
It is possible that his attackers stopped stabbing him when he lost
consciousness, though I agree it is unlikely.
It is also possible that Jon did die, but that he will not stay dead and that Melisandre will
resurrect him much like Thoros of Myr resurrected Beric Dondarrion and Catelyn
Stark (surprise non-readers! In the books Catelyn Stark was resurrected and now goes by the name of Lady Stoneheart, the leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners). Or, and this is the most likely scenario,
Jon warged into Ghost (like Bran wargs into Summer and Hodor). After being
stabbed, as he succumbed, Jon's last word was “Ghost”.
All
the Stark children have warging abilities, though at this stage only Bran and
Arya seem to understand this ability to some extent. Bran often purposely wargs into Summer and
Hodor, and while Arya wargs into Nymeria in her sleep (she experienced Nymeria dragging Catelyn's body from the river after the Red Wedding), she also warged into a cat
in the House of Black and White when she bested The Kindly Man at "a game of slaps"
while blinded. As for Jon, while he has
not consciously warged into Ghost (or anything else) we do know that Jon has
warged into Ghost in the past, only he was unaware of doing so as he did it in
his sleep and assumed his time in Ghost's skin were merely dreams; very vivid dreams, but dreams all the same. In a moment of pure instinct
it is very possible that Jon wargs into Ghost just in the nick of time. In one of Melisandre’s visions “she heard the whispered name Jon Snow… Now he was a man, now a wolf, now a man again”.
The
prologue in A Dance With Dragons
didn’t quite make sense to me at the time I first read it. I could not understand the significance of
this seemingly random chapter. This is a
chapter where a character named Varamyr Sixskins dies, and as he is dying he
wargs into a wolf. “True death came suddenly; he felt a shock of cold, as if he had been plunged into the icy waters of a frozen
lake.” This entire chapter could
have been placed as an indication of what to expect when a dying person wargs
into another creature. The cold Jon felt
could have been as a result of warging into Ghost. The prologue also mentions "They say you feel warm near the end,
warm and sleepy”. Jon only felt the cold.
The Black Brothers will probably take Jon's body to the ice cells so that he does not return as one of The Others. Why else did Martin invest so much effort
into describing the ice cells, their purpose and their upkeep, and have Jon demonstrate that bodies kept in the ice cells do not reanimate? This could also connect to Daenerys’ vision of “A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall
of ice, and filled the air with sweetness…”. (more about this later). If Jon’s body is preserved in such a way, he
could possibly later find a way to get back into his own skin. Otherwise, he could obviously also take over someone else's body, but as Jon has not developed his warging abilities yet I doubt that he is skilled enough to do that at this stage (even Bran, who is more skilled, has difficulty controlling Hodor).
We have dealt with the how, now let’s talk about why Jon can’t be dead.
Let’s
start with the obvious. Jon Snow is the
most likely candidate to be Azor Ahai come again (more about that later), “the
prince that was promised and his is the song of ice and fire”. The book series is called A Song
of Ice and Fire. The entire series is about him!
At
this point I doubt there is an ASOIAF / GOT
fan alive who hasn’t heard the R+L=J theory. Benioff and Weiss have made no secret of the
fact that George R.R Martin only agreed to give them the rights to adapt the
book series after they correctly answered his question, “Who is Jon Snow’s
mother?”, therefore Jon Snow’s mother was clearly not some lowborn woman named
Wylla (as Ned told Robert), and the identity of Jon Snow’s mother has to be a
very important aspect of the series. You
have already been warned of spoilers, but if you do not want to know who Jon Snow’s mother
is, STOP READING NOW.
Though
still unconfirmed, every little clue Martin has deigned to throw our way indicates that Jon Snow is not the illegitimate son of Ned Stark,
but that he is in fact the son of Ned’s sister, Lyanna Stark and Prince Rhaegar
Targaryen.
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| Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. Art by denkata5698 on Deviantart |
"[Jon] knew nothing of his mother; Yet he dreamed of her at times,
so often that he could almost see her face. In his dreams, she was beautiful,
and highborn, and her eyes were kind". Tyrion Lannister notes that Jon has the
traditional Stark face. Of all the Stark children, Arya is said to
resemble Jon the most, and Arya’s likeness to her Aunt Lyanna is often observed.
Ned married
Catelyn Tully and after one night together headed off for the War of the Usurper,
the war that brought an end to the Targaryen dynasty. He returned to her a year later with another woman's child in his arms. Robert’s Rebellion was triggered by the
“kidnapping” of Lyanna Stark by Rhaegar Targaryen. Lyanna was betrothed to Robert Baratheon, but she was
not as enthusiastic about the match as Robert was. For one, she knew that he would never be
faithful to her. He had already fathered Mya Stone and Lyanna told her brother that Robert will never keep to one bed. "Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot
change a man’s nature”. Ned himself had
said to Robert, “You never knew Lyanna as
I did, Robert. You saw her beauty, but not the iron underneath”. Robert was taken with Lyanna’s beauty, and
while he claimed to love her, there is no proof that he truly did. Enter Rhaegar Targaryen. Rhaegar is said to have been very beautiful,
and he was a gifted musician. It is said
that during the great Tourney at Harenhall, prince Rhaegar played a song so
sweet, it made Lyanna weep. When Prince
Rhaegar was named the victor of the tourney, he got to crown The Queen of Love
and Beauty. “Ned remembered the moment when all the
smiles died, when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen urged his horse past his own wife,
the Dornish princess Elia Martell, to lay the queen of beauty’s laurel in
Lyanna’s lap. He could see it still: a crown of winter roses, blue as frost”.
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| Rhaegar crowns Lyanna the Queen of Love and Beauty. Art by M. Luisa Giliberti |
Approximately
a year later, Lyanna disappeared with Rhaegar Targaryen. Legend has it that Lyanna had been abducted,
but this is something we learn only from Robert’s perspective. The nature of Lyanna’s disappearance is
unknown to readers at this stage, but it is very likely that Rhaegar and Lyanna
were in love, and that Lyanna went with him willingly. Her father had promised her to Robert
Baratheon, so Lyanna might have run away with Rhaegar because her father would
not have permitted her to end her engagement in order to be with a man who was
already married to another. Ser
Barristan Selmy, who was close to the Prince, firmly believes “Prince Rhaegar loved his Lady Lyanna”. There
may be no proof that Rhaegar and Lyanna were secretly married, but there is
also no proof that they were not. The Targaryens
do have a history of polygamy, so it is not impossible that Rhaegar would have
taken two wives.
Rhaegar was later killed in battle by Robert
Baratheon. “Rubies flew like drops of blood from the chest of a dying prince, and
with his last breath he murmured a woman's name”. This
name was most probably “Lyanna”. As for Lyanna, Ned found her tucked away in
the Tower of Joy in Dorne.
He could still hear her at times. Promise me, she had cried, in a room that smelled of blood and roses. Promise me, Ned. The fever had taken her strength and her voice had been faint as a whisper, but when he gave his word, the fear had gone out of his sister's eyes. Ned remembered the way she smiled then, how tightly her fingers had clutched his as she gave up her hold on life, the rose petals spilling from her palm, dead and black. After that he remembered nothing. They had found him still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed, had taken her hand from his.
It
is entirely possible, and probable, that the blood and Lyanna’s death were as a
result of childbirth. If this scenario
is true, Lyanna made Ned promise to raise her baby as his own and to protect
his identity at all costs. If Robert
ever found out that Lyanna had a child with another man, and that her son was a
Targaryen and as such an heir to the throne, her child would never have been
safe. Ned kept this promise. "I
will, Ned promised her. That was his curse. Robert would swear undying love and
forget them before evenfall, but Ned Stark kept his vows. He thought of the
promises he made to Lyanna as she lay dying, and the price he'd paid to keep
them”. Even Catelyn was led to
believe that Ned had fathered the child with another woman while away at
war. I think we can all agree that Ned
Stark is too honourable to ever cheat on his wife. Ever. We learn that “Whoever Jon's mother had been, Ned must have
loved her fiercely, for nothing Catelyn
said would persuade him to send the boy away”.
A very clever piece of prose! Ned
did love Jon’s mother fiercely – only
nobody knew that it was his sister.
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| Promise me, Ned. Art by CyanideMilkshake on Deviantart |
Lyanna clutching the rose petals would also
indicate an attachment to the person who gave them to her – it could only have
been Rhaegar. I
believe that the blue winter roses also play a part in confirming Jon’s true
identity. Blue winter roses grow in
Winterfell and are synonymous with Lyanna Stark, who is widely known to have
been extremely fond of them. While
Lyanna and blue winter roses go hand in hand, I believe the blue winter roses
symbolise not Lyanna, but Jon Snow. If
Rhaegar and Lyanna are Jon’s parents, the story of his conception begins with
blue winter roses – the crown of blue winter roses that Rhaegar laid in
Lyanna’s lap at the Tourney at Harenhall.
The fact that it is a crown
could point towards Jon’s royal Targaryen blood, and the fact that the flowers
are blue winter roses points to Stark. In
her House of the Undying visions, Daenerys notes “A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air
with sweetness…”. This could
definitely represent Jon Snow at The Wall.
All of this supports the theory that Jon Snow is the son of Rhaegar
Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. So,
technically, Jon is a Prince. The Prince
that was promised.
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| Lyanna Stark, blue winter roses. Artist unknown |
In The
World of Ice and Fire it is confirmed that the joining of Stark and
Targaryen is key. Lord Cregan Stark made
an agreement with the Targaryens during the reign of Aegon III called “The Pact
of Ice and Fire,” which was designed to wed Stark and Targaryen to each
other. Sadly it went unfulfilled. The Pact of Ice and Fire equates to Stark +
Targaryen, so, logically A Song of Ice
and Fire has to be Stark + Targaryen – not necessarily individual Starks
and Targaryens, but possibly one who is both.
Jon Snow simply has to be “the prince that was promised, and his is
the song of ice and fire".
So,
why is Jon’s parentage important and what does it mean for the series?
The
Prince that was promised is a prophesied leader or saviour, a hero to deliver
the world from darkness. It is believed that the Prince that was
promised will save the world from the Others (White Walkers) much like the
legendary hero Azor Ahai did during The Long Night approximately 8000 years
before Aegon’s Landing. It is said that Azor
Ahai rose up and defeated the Others, wielding a sword of fire, called
Lightbringer. There is a prophecy that
Azor Ahai will come again to defeat the great Other. The prophecy is believed to have originated in
Old Valeria, and the Prince is expected to be born through the Targaryen
line. In Daenerys’ vision in the House
of the Undying, Rhaegar said of a newborn baby in the arms of a woman, “He is the Prince that was promised and his
is the song of ice and fire”. This
is believed to be his son Aegon, as Rhaegar goes on to mention that he must
have one more child, which could also indicate the coming of Jon Snow. We know now that Prince Aegon is still alive,
but I believe he was introduced to the story way too late and as too minor of a
character (at this stage) to be the character the entire series is named for. Rhaegar could have been wrong. It was not his second child that would be the
Prince that was promised, but his third.
Melisandre
has mentioned the Prince that was promised and Azor Ahai
interchangeably. This could be one
and the same hero of the same prophecy, or two distinct people part of the same
prophecy. At this point it is
unknown. Maester Aemon firmly believes
that the Prince is not a Prince, but a Princess, Daenerys. Melisandre believes that Stannis is Azor
Ahai, but she ponders “I pray for a
glimpse of Azor Ahai, and R'hllor shows me only Snow”. While she only saw actual snow in her flames,
this could obviously point to Jon Snow.
Jon
also has this dream: “Jon was armored in
black ice, but his blade burned red in his fist. As the dead men reached the
top of the Wall he sent them down to die again”. Jon could have had a prophetic dream wherein
he was holding Lightbringer, the flaming sword of Azor Ahai.
There
prophecy goes: “When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be
born again amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone.” Now, this red comet was seen at the start of the
series. Many people believe that
Daenerys fulfilled this prophecy when she was “reborn” with her dragons on
Drogo’s funeral pyre, but the prose Martin uses in Jon’s “death” scene could also fulfil the conditions of
the prophecy: Wun Wun tears apart a man with a red star sigil, his traitorous
Black Brothers could represent the darkness, Jon’s wounds are described as
“smoking,” and the salt could be represented in one of his attackers'
tears.
Maester
Aemon once told Jon, “Kill the boy and
let the man be born”. Perhaps Jon’s “death”
is some necessary part of Jon’s development and the process of becoming Azor
Ahai.
Lastly, the most important reason why Jon can't be dead: He hasn't reunited with Arya yet!
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| Kit Harington (Jon) and Maisie Williams (Arya) |
While
Season 6 of Game of Thrones is
expected to premier in April 2016, showrunners Benoiff and Weiss as well as Kit
Harington (who portrays Jon Snow) insist that Kit will not return for Season 6. Kit Harington has even cut his hair, which
he was not allowed to do according to his GOT contract. If Jon warged into Ghost, they would not need
Kit to continue Jon’s storyline, so even if Kit is out that doesn’t necessarily
mean that Jon Snow is dead. Interesting to note is that when talking about Jon Snow, Benioff
said “Dead is dead”. This sentence appears
on the very first page of A Game of Thrones (Book 1 of ASOIAF),
referring to dead wildlings – who then come back to life! Benioff could either be messing with our
heads, or he dropped a hint only book readers would pick up on; or I'm reading too much into an innocent remark.
Another
hint suggesting that Jon’s story is far from over is found in Season 6 casting
news. GOT is looking to cast “A
man in his thirties or forties who is a great swordsman and a paragon of
knighthood. He carries a hugely famous sword on his back. The show is seeking a
very impressive swordsman for the role- the best in Europe, for a week of
filming fight scenes for a season 6 role.”
This seems to be a call for the famous Kingsguard member
Arthur Dayne, often referred to as “Sword of the Morning”, who wore his famous
ancestral blade slung across his back. Arthur
Dayne is long dead at the time ASOIAF/GOT takes place, and would therefore only
be featured in flashbacks (which would explain only one week of filming). The only possible flashback featuring Arthur
Dayne that could be significant at this stage is the events at Tower of
Joy! Arthur Dayne was Rhaegar Targaryen’s
best friend and was one of three Kingsguard members protecting Lyanna at the
Tower of Joy. The fact that there were
members of the Kingsguard (even after Rhaegar had been killed) leads many to
believe that there had to have been
someone royal in the Tower (either Lyanna had married Rhaegar and was now a
Queen, and/or Rhaegar’s child was in the tower with Lyanna). If Jon Snow is dead, why would GOT bother to reveal
the truth of his birth? And why would
they reveal the truth of his birth if not to reveal that he is a Targaryen? If Jon Snow is truly dead, there could be no
reason to disclose his parentage.
Regardless of what GOT will do next, even if Jon Snow is dead in Game of Thrones, readers still have to await the
publication of the next book in the series, The
Winds of Winter (for which no release date has been assigned) to learn Jon’s
fate. I have previously predicted a 2017
release and at the rate Martin is writing I am sticking to it. Here’s hoping he proves me wrong by having
the book ready next year.
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